


Star-Touched

by hapakitsune



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-25
Updated: 2013-05-25
Packaged: 2017-12-12 22:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/816773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hapakitsune/pseuds/hapakitsune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They learn about Sidney the Xenocide during the required unit on the Formic Wars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Star-Touched

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on tumblr, reposted by request. Ender's Game au sort of.

_Do you remember the first time you saw the stars? The first time you looked up and realized there were an infinite number of worlds that humanity had left to discover? I don’t know how old I was when I first yearned to go up there; it’s all I’ve ever known. And I can tell you this — even though I_ _have seen more worlds than I ever imagined, even though I have sacrificed so much to do this, I have never lost that desire to explore, or that profound amazement that I feel when I look up into the infinite wonder of the skies._

_\- Captain Manon Rhéaume_

 

Evgeni is born on a clear night in the dead of winter, the bright stars of their galaxy shining above them. His mother tells him that she remembers looking out the windows of the hospital and seeing the flare of a ship entering their atmosphere at the same moment Evgeni let out his first cry. 

"I knew then you would be reaching for the stars," she says, stroking his hair as they sit on the porch, looking up together. 

Evgeni spends hours tracing the outlines of constellations on his PADD, memorizing the placement of the stars and looking at how the sky looks back on Earth. He's fascinated by the differences, by the stars his grandparents saw as children, and he wonders what Earth is like now, if it's anything like the photos they have in their family archives. 

In school, Evgeni is quick to opt into the space science and history track along with Alex, his neighbor since he was a child. Alex wants to join the Interplanetary Fleet one day, but Evgeni just wants to explore, to get out into the stars and see everything there is to see. He reads the biography of Manon Rhéaume, the explorer who found their planet, over and over until he has whole passages memorized, and tells himself one day he'll get out there. 

They learn about Sidney the Xenocide during the required unit on the Formic Wars. It's hard to comprehend a time when humanity was unaware of other species in the universe, harder still to understand how devastating the first attack must have been. All the accounts are terrible to read – humanity tormented by a foe they could not understand – and then Sidney Crosby had appeared. 

The books describe him as a ruthless leader who saved the human race and doomed another in one fell swoop before vanishing, never to be seen again. The version they're taught is simplified and sanitized, and it takes Evgeni years of determined requests on the Extranet (and some strategic hacking he bribes Ilushka to do for him) to gain access to the old vids and articles, more than the history books and the copy of _The Hive Queen_ that they're required to read in class.

When he finds the press conference from the day after the Formic home planet was destroyed, he replays the file so many times that his eyes ache, but he can't stop staring at the tiny, child's face of the boy who killed an entire species. Sidney is on screen for all of two minutes, sitting quietly beside Colonel Lemieux while Commander Shero explains that they had meant to wait until Sidney was older, but they had the chance and had to take it. 

Evgeni isn't sure, because the vid quality isn't great, but there's one part where he thinks Sidney is holding back tears. 

He learns from other articles Sidney was eleven, that it was common practice to train children as soldiers, that Sidney had been taken from his family at the age of six. There are pages and pages of declassified statements from Colonel Lemieux and Senator Brisson and Commander Shero about Sidney's superior tactical skills, his intelligence, his creativity. But there's so little from Sidney himself that sometimes Evgeni wonders how he possibly could have been a real person. 

He asks, when he's fifteen, what happened to Sidney after the end of the war. His teacher frowns, looking puzzled, and then admits she doesn't know. Evgeni sighs and sits back in his seat. 

"Why do you care so much?" Alex asks when they leave class. "Crosby has been dead for centuries and he's a war criminal anyway."

"He was eleven years old," Evgeni says, more snappishly than he intends. 

Alex holds up his hands and says, "Geez, sorry."

Evgeni looks up towards the sky and sighs. "I just think there's more to this than we know."

"Let it go, Zhenya," Alex says. "This is all ancient history."

"It's important," Evgeni protests, but Alex just rolls his eyes and jogs ahead to catch up with Maria, a cheesy grin already on his face.

 

When Evgeni is sixteen, he gets a job at the spaceport, and works the night shift, processing late flights in and out and going over passenger manifests. His favorite part is watching the ships take off, leaping into full throttle as they power on out of the atmosphere. He gets promoted to passport control when he's seventeen and he loves that too, because he has a great view out the window and he gets to see all the marks from the different planets that the visitors have been to. He gets to work on his different languages too, becoming passable in English and good enough in Chinese that he can at least answer questions. 

He takes a year off after finishing school to work and save money for school. His brother works at the factory in town and is thinking of asking his girlfriend to marry him soon. Alex and Maria are engaged, have been since the last day of school, and Maria is planning on following Alex off to school. Sometimes Evgeni's mother asks him about it, if he plans on settling down soon. People tend to marry young on their planet, and Evgeni has already attended three weddings of his classmates, everyone committing before they go off to school or work. 

But Evgeni wants more – wants to get out and see what exists outside Magnitogorsk and Moscow and their whole system. He gets glimpses of it at work, the elegant fashions and nasal accents of the people from the core systems and planets, the hardworn faces of the traders from the drier planets. He wants to see everything, to meet someone he didn't grow up with. 

Sergei, his supervisor, asks him to work late a few weeks before Christmas, and Evgeni agrees for the extra pay. It's a quiet night, not much going on, but not long before he's due to clock out, a small passenger shuttle comes in. 

It's an older model, old enough that Evgeni doesn't actually recognize it, but it glides in smooth as silk. The pilot comes down first, a tall, broad man with sandy hair and a friendly smile. He's wearing civilian clothes, not a uniform. 

"Hi," he says to Evgeni in passable Russian. "Jack Johnson, passenger shuttle. I have two people with me."

"They'll need to come out so I can mark them down," Evgeni says, pulling up the immigration forms. "Are you here for a visit or to stay?"

"I'm not sure yet," Jack says apologetically. "I'm working for Mr. Crosby."

Evgeni jerks involuntarily at that, looking up. "Crosby?"

"Yep," Jack says. Then he seems to realize what Evgeni is thinking and laughs. "Not that Crosby, obviously. Patrick Crosby." He turns and shouts in English that's a little too fast to follow. A moment later, a slender man with long dark hair comes out. Evgeni sags a little, weirdly disappointed, but then Jack says, "This is Kris, my co-pilot." 

Kris nods politely before circling around to the other side of the shuttle. The shuttle door opens again and this time, a compact young man with curly dark hair is the one who exits. He's solidly built, with strong shoulders and arms and something about the way he holds himself pings Evgeni's recognition. 

And then he looks up and meets Evgeni's eyes, and Evgeni – he recognizes those eyes. He stares as the man approaches, hands shaking, and he doesn't know why he's so sure but he is. He holds out his hand for the man's ID chip and slides it in. 

_Patrick Crosby_ , says the computer, and it says he's eighteen, the same age as Evgeni. And he does look eighteen, a youthful face and baby-fat softened limbs, but his smile is weary and he carries himself with more poise and surety than anyone Evgeni has ever met. 

"Born on Earth," Evgeni says in English, reading the computer. "Canada." He looks up. "Long way away."

Crosby smiles faintly and replies in Russian, "I've traveled a lot."

"And a long time?" Evgeni suggests. "Mr. Crosby."

Crosby narrows his eyes at Evgeni, then says, "Yes." 

"How long are you planning on staying?" 

"Not sure as of yet," Crosby says. "I might stay a while."

Evgeni marks that down. "There's a good hotel on the north side of town. Cheap rates, good rooms."

"Thanks." Crosby smiles politely. "I'll look into it."

Evgeni finishes approving Crosby's immigration and hands back his ID chip. "Welcome."

Crosby nods politely. Evgeni watches him leave, and then offers Jack and Kris smiles as they hand over their ID chips. 

Over the next few days, Evgeni sees Crosby around at the store, at the restaurant on Main Street, at the rink on the outskirts of town. Evgeni usually skates there a couple of times a week, meeting up with Alex and Ilushka and whoever else is available to play a little shinny. None of them can afford the really good equipment from the inner planets, so they play old-style hockey, the kind they sometimes show when they air the new matches. 

Crosby is there when Evgeni arrives, skating around with a look of pure bliss on his face. The sun is going down, the first stars starting to show, and it's spectacularly beautiful out on the rink, the light reflecting off the smooth surface of the ice. Evgeni finishes lacing up his skates and steps out to join Crosby, calling out a hello as he does. 

Crosby comes to a textbook stop, looking up at Evgeni in surprise. "Oh, hello. I didn't think anyone would be out here so late."

"We come to play after work," Evgeni explains. The rink lights start flickering on and he looks up at the sky before the stars are drowned out. 

"It's beautiful out here," Crosby says softly. 

"I always like looking up at the stars here," says Evgeni. He hesitates, then asks bluntly, "Why are you here?"

"I like to skate," Crosby says, raising his eyebrows. 

"Not here," Evgeni says. " _Here_." He waves his hand around. "I know who you are."

Crosby goes very still. "Excuse me?"

"I've watched all the vids," Evgeni says quietly, skating towards him. Crosby skates backwards, eyes widening. "I know your face."

"I don't know what you think you know –"

"Sidney," Evgeni says, and Crosby – Sidney – closes his eyes and exhales slowly. 

Then he says, "It's been – well. A long time since anyone called me that."

 

"It's easy to hide in plain sight," Sidney explains later when they are sitting in his hotel room. He's relaxed a bit now, kicked his shoes off and washed his face. "No one thinks anyone would be dumb enough to _choose_ the name Crosby."

"How?" Evgeni asks. "It's been hundreds of years."

"I've been traveling," Sidney says, smiling slight. "Writing, a little." He touches his hand to his breast pocket reflexively. "Searching."

"For what?"

"A home." Sidney sighs and looks down at his hands. "For a way to – make up for the things I did."

"For the –" Evgeni hesitates. "Xenocide?"

"For that."

"They used you," Evgeni protests. "You were a child –"

"And I never asked," Sidney says sharply. "I let them."

Evgeni just shakes his head, suddenly tired. "If it weren't for that book, no one would even think of you as that."

" _The Hive Queen_?" Sidney asks. "I wrote that. Well, my sister did," he corrects, expression suddenly turning melancholy. "I told her what to write and she did it for me. I needed people to understand why I couldn't accept their praise."

"You saved Earth."

"It didn't need saving," Sidney says. He rises to his feet and paces towards the window, twitching the curtains aside to look out over the dull glow of the city, out at the stars. "When I was younger – before humans had populated every livable planet in the known universe – every star looked like an opportunity for danger. I thought that I'd be out there, making it safe for humans. But after all that, I couldn't just –" He breaks off and shakes his head before looking back at Evgeni. "Don't you see?"

"No," he says frankly. 

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sidney sighs and press his palm flat against the glass. "Every time I land somewhere new, I hope I've found the right place. But I don't think the climate is what I need."

"You're leaving?"

"Tomorrow, I think," Sidney says. "I liked it here, but it isn't the right place."

"You keep saying that," Evgeni says. "What's the right place, then?"

"I don't know," Sidney says. "I'm still looking."

Evgeni bites his lip, staring at the tense line of Sidney's shoulder. "Can I help?"

Sidney turns to stare at him. "What?"

"I want to come with you," Evgeni says. "Please."

"I can't let you do that," Sidney says. "I have no idea how long this will take."

"All I've ever wanted is to see the stars," Evgeni says. 

Sidney sighs and says, "I used to think that, too."

Evgeni gets to his feet and joins Sidney at the window. "I don't know what you're trying to do to," he says, "but no one deserves to be alone for as long as you've been."

Sidney looks up at him and sighs. "Even me?"

"Especially you," Evgeni says. 

 

Evgeni quits his job the next day. The shuttle is cramped for someone of his height, but he sits close by the window hatch as Jack eases into flight, and watches the ground fall away from them, his family waving from the ground. 

"Is this the first time you've flown?" Sidney asks quietly, leaning over so Evgeni can hear him. 

"Yes," he says, rubbing at his arms. 

"Wait," Sidney says. His cheek presses close to Evgeni's as he looks out the window too. "This is my favorite part."

And they ease out of the atmosphere into the stars. Evgeni breathes out a sharp, startles breath and Sidney nods. 

"Yeah," he says."Beautiful, isn't it?"

Evgeni reaches out blindly and seizes Sidney's hand. Sidney lets out a startled breath, then squeezes back gently.


End file.
